Hey,

I just purchased a brand new 2011 civic si sedan 4 days ago, and I just noticed the wipers streak badly. Is Honda good at replacing them under warranty since its so new? I first thought it was RAINX on the glass, but the water doesnt bead and just sticks. Thanks!

 

Buy better blades? This is probably the nit-pickiest thing I think I've heard.

Buy good blades (Bosch Icons or similar) and put RainX on the glass so it beads.

 

Where, in the post, was he nit-picking? He bought a BRAND NEW car and noticed something unusual.

OP, get some alcohol wipes and clean the blades. I have Rain-X on my windshield (the washer fluid kind) and it does streak, but nothing dramatic. And the fact that the blades are a few years old doesn't help either.

 

if you bought a new car and drove it for 4 days, and tried to use the wipers but couldn't crap during a heavy shower would you be "nit-picking" about it. i don't want to buy new blades if the ones i have now should be brand new and not streaking.

 

If I bought a brand new car that retails around $25k I wouldn't be crying about $20 wipers if I wasn't satisfied with the cheap stock ones.......

*edit* Not to mention wipers would be one of those wear/tear items not covered by warranty. Exactly the same as saying "I'm not happy with how my tires perform in the rain, they're brand new! You need to replace them since I'm warrantied!"

 

If you are unhappy with the way the wipers streak take it back.

Someone could have switched there old junk wipers while the car was on the lot, everything on the car should be covered in the 1 year body and paint warranty.

I had a hell of a time finding wipers that fit my 06 for some reason, every place I went had the pass side and not the drivers, one company made only the passengers side which didn't make sense at all.

I finally found trico's at advance for the drivers side, that were a reasonable price.

 

Wear and tear is not covered..........



http://automobiles.honda.com/informa...resources.aspx

 

they should be able to replace the wipers. when i worked at toyota there was a warranty under wiper blades i think 6 months? cant remember right, but i've replaced hundreds for free. especially on a BRAND NEW car. everyone remember this, if you can complain or bitch enough to the right person at a new car dealership they will most likely do anything to fix the problem. i've seen so many customers get away with crap that i couldnt believe it. for an example on the wipers.. had a customer come in with a year old car and complained about the wipers performance. the service writer explained the concept of wear and tear of wiper blades. so the customers response "let me speak to your manager" 20 min later they drove off with a brand new set of free wipers.

 

It's 4 F**KIN" DAYS!! How the F*CK do you "wear and tear" brand new wipers in four days??

 

Wipers/Tires/Brakes/etc are considered 'wear and tear' items and are not covered by warranty, regardless of how long the car has been sold.

It has nothing to do with the days he has owned it. It is his opinion they are unsatisfactory even if they are brand new, refer to my tires example. The car comes with tires but the dealership is not going to warranty them because you feel they are not sufficient.

 

Obviously if you bitch and moan you will get something eventually. But is it worth pissing off the techs doing to the work for free over $20? The dealership individually (not as a part of Honda warranty) may replace the wipers to keep business but is under no obligation to replace them.

 

dude i dont know if honda is different. but at toyota wipers/tires/brakes have some kind of warranty. i've personally have re-cut rotors and replaced pads, because of customer complaints. all the customer has to do is make a complaint that describes a TSB (technical service bulletin) like squeaky brakes from glazed rotors and the dealer is obligated to fix the problem. tires come some times deformed from a tire distributer in a way that they throw off balance and we replace them if the customer complains and we can duplicate the problem.

 

wiperblades have no flat-rate labor charge. its always free labor. and anything under warranty (except wipers) the tech will get paid for. so they dont really mind only when the flat rate is less under warranty than when customer pays. like i replaced a tranny that if a customer paid would of been 6 hours flat rate, but was placed under warranty and got paid 4 hours.

 

try the alcohol wipes on the wiper blades. even though the car was new, it prob sat around outside for enough time to build up some crud on the blades. if it does not work and still sucks ***, go back to the dealer and demand new ones. i have worked at a dealer and seen how **** goes down and know what they can and cant help you out with and this they can. **** when i bought my wife's civic it was used but it was "honda ceritified" so all maintance was up to date, new tires and everything except guess what?! wiper blades! lol, when i test drove it, it was raining and noticed they sucked so when i decided to buy it i was like throw in a new set of wipers and you got a deal. so i doubt you purchasing a new car shouldnt have any trouble getting them replaced.

 

on the contrary to all this wear and tear conversation Muffin Man (hate to burst your bubble)... wear and tear items ARE covered under a WEAR AND TEAR warranty policy. brake pads, rotors, wiperblades, etc (wear and tear items) are covered for 12 months or 12,000 miles, whichever comes first.

OP: YES, you're wiperblades ARE covered by Honda. Take the Civic back to your selling dealer and they will replace them for you at no charge, no questions asked.

 

Would love to see your evidence of this statement. I'll wait for you to post the documentation on it. I clearly posted what Honda covers under their warranties with the vehicle from their website - none of which is 'wear and tear'

Show me where this 'WEAR AND TEAR warranty policy' is and I'll recant my statement.

*edit* In fact, here's the warranties available specific for the 2011 Civic Sedan

http://automobiles.honda.com/civic-sedan/warranty.aspx

*edit2*

Just pay $50, get the Bosch Icon

http://shop.advanceautoparts.com/web...51_10051_-1___

 

I went back to the dealership today, and they gladly replaced the wipers for free no questions asked! I'm just happy it was just the wipers, and not any kind of goo stuck on the window.

 

sorry guy, I don't have documentation/proof. I called the service manager at the Honda dealership where I work and asked him. He confirmed the wear and tear warranty (12 month or 12,000 miles).

you should probably calm down bud. it's ok to be wrong once in awhile.

 

I'm actually quite calm and 100% correct, you are the one without any proof of this mystical warranty existing. There is no mention anywhere of a wear and tear warranty from Honda at all.

Now the exception (sort of) is the Honda extended warranties offered through the dealership by a third party that are dealer/location specific. They cover more items than the Honda warranties, but even those do not even cover everything (in fact they list 'wear and tear' items like brakes, tires, etc being excluded). The other exception is the tires, but are not warrantied by Honda but through their manufacturer - so Bridgestone's warranty applies, but Honda has nothing to do with it.

And like I stated before, if he does go to the dealership and complain either one of two things will happen:
1) He is polite and Service Manager likes having his business and replaces with the exact same wiper free of charge (not because it's warrantied)
2) The Service Manager informs him wipers are not covered by warranty and if he does not like the performance of the stock ones to buy aftermarket wipers. Then probably offer to install those for $50

Neither of which is because of a warranty. My statement regarding the tires is identical, but tires are more expensive and would be denied by the dealer - I think everyone agrees on that. If you replace this whole thread with tires instead of wipers, no one is going to say go to the dealership for the warranty because it would be ridiculous.

*edit* And based on his post (looked over it) it looks like #1 applied

 

told you it wouldnt be a problem.

 

dude the warranty is there believe me. they just don't advertise it as well as they do the rest. it might be some kind of extended warranty, or third party warranty but its there. they don't like to throw it out there like the other obvious ones because they'll lose out on money. the less the customer knows then the more money in their pocket. the dealer's main goal is to make money, so if they can get away with something because the customer didnt know, they'll try. the service writer really doesnt know that much about warranty and they are the main person the customer mainly speaks to. it is the job of the tech to find out what will be covered under warranty. so if the service writer does not know what is covered he/she will try to make the customer pay.

heres an example of how warranty for wear and tear can work...

now a tech is "not supposed to" sell warranty, what i mean is if a customer comes in with a brand new car for its first oil change and the tech finds glazed rotors. normally he would try to sell a brake service (cut rotors) but he knows its still covered under warranty (which it is) because there is a TSB for it. but he cannot try to sell it unless the customer complains about it first when they brought it in. so if they didnt then its oil change and shipped. if the customer did complain, then bam TSB is looked up as per complaint, complaint is duplicated by tech and problem is fixed and documented and paid by warranty. all warranty TSB's are limited by age and mileage of vehicle. *And a TSB is not a recall if anyone was wondering.

sorry for the long rant but i dont have the documentation your asking for and really dont care for wasting my time looking it up but i have dealership experience and know how things are runned. and i doubt honda is that different than toyota.

 

also forgot to mention, wipers are considered a safety hazard, as well as brakes and tires so that is why there has to be some kind of warranty for them on brand new vehicles. and usually anything replaced by warranty has to have the deffected item returned to manufactorer for inspection except wiper blades. they go right in the trash. so telling the op to just go spend $50 on some new wipers when he just purchased a bran new $25k car is plain retarded. just my $0.02

 

Why do people buy better tires? Why do people buy 'performance parts'? Why do people do anything aftermarket on their car?

Generally speaking it is because they are unsatisfied with the factory performance of something and there is a better aftermarket alternative - wipers being no exception.

And no, they are not a 'safety hazard' they functioned correctly (wiper arm moved and the blades made contact with the windshield) so it is not a safety concern. It was the OP was not satisfied with their performance, not their function. If they were malfunctioning (one arm didn't move at all) or were a factory defect, they WOULD be covered under warranty. Brakes are the exact same. If the are functioning correctly, the pads are not warrantied. There may be a TSB on them, but that is not an implied warranty given at the time of sale.

Everyone seems to not understand that. The wipers functioned correctly, the OP was not satisfied with their performance. There is a HUGE difference between the two.

If the OP made a thread about braking performance and stated - "I just got my car and I can't stop from 60-0 in 10 feet and not 20 feet, I want my brake pads replaced!" what would you say?

 

obviously he had them replaced and work better than the 1st set. so something was wrong with them and i bet their the same exact kind. i know where your trying to get at with being un-statisfied and what not but there is a difference with being un-satisfied and something not working properly. you think they design wipers to streak? even the cheapest set at your local parts store wont streak after just 4 days. and if the customer complained about the performance of the brakes, like stopping distance, i could test drive it to check out the issue if it is way off i'd inspect the brakes and if thats ok then i'd drive another exact vehicle at the dealer and compare. if there was a problem the problem would be fixed if thats just how it performs and the vehicle was mis-advertised then the customer would have to take it up with the manufacturer (honda, toyota...)

for example...

i've had several customers complain about mpg's. the car advertised 25-30 and their getting 20-22 or something like that. i'd hook up our scan tool and take their vehicle for a cruise driving the speed limit and the scan tool will log all the data and most likely i'd get what was advertised and some times even better. so its all in the driving style of the customer. if they didnt believe me i'd take them with me and show them.